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Comedian Armando Iannucci's Twitter musings have inspired the creation of a fake police force for Wigan, who battle against 'crimes' such as looking confused in the cheese aisles.

The producer of hit shows The Thick of It and I'm Alan Partridge invited his 44,000 plus followers on Twitter to set up a 'police force' as a response to the Conservatives' election promise to involve residents in the running of local services.

Iannucci told Wigan Today that he had tweeted the idea as 'a joke really', having seen the policy on Newsnight. 'I thought it was nonsense and decided to post something on Twitter saying that I was thinking of setting up my own police force and it just took off from there.

'People started suggesting areas to police and there was various suggestions, but Wigan came back as the area to supervise.'

Twitter Force, with 1,000 followers, was operational within hours with a campaign poster and the slogan 'Yes Wi-gan'.

(The alternative 'Things are going to get Battered' was a close runner up.)

Members of the Twitter Force were advised: 'When arresting someone in Wigan today, you should say I have been invited to perform an arrest.' SHWelsh offered his services as a police siren, saying: 'I can impersonate one using my voice and a mediocre megaphone. Can you train the others?' J5K added: 'I can get a hold of a white Transit van. Can I be head of traffic division?'

DoggerBanks called for back up, as he was 'in pursuit of several Wigan youths, shouting Scarper, it's the twigs.'

When Iannucci demanded a five per cent fall in crime figures by 3pm, he was told: 'Crime not down in Wigan by five per cent. But we now have the right to start our own Office of Statistics, who can say it is.'

Iannucci added: 'I was really surprised at how quickly this took off and it's quite scary really. I don't know how long it is going to go on for but I might have to put a stop to it quite soon before it gets any bigger."

Mike Winstanley, Conservative leader for Wigan, said: 'Although this was a stunt it has just shown the strength of feeling that people in Wigan have about being involved in the decision-making process in the local community.'

Twitterforce's arrestable offences include:

Touching too much fruit or veg in the supermarket.

Carrying small dogs when they can clearly walk (a la Paris Hilton).

Whistling made up tunes.

Specifying 'wet when ordering coffee.

Clapping when a plane lands.

Wearing sunglasses in dull weather.

Starting talking when your turn is clearly over.

Walking the dog without a dog.

Ordering Babycham ironically.

Looking confused in the cheese aisles. 

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